news WORTHINGTON — Agriculture industry professionals from more than a dozen counties across southern Minnesota connected via video conference Thursday to discuss response plans in the event of an animal disease emergency.
The diversity of Minnesota agriculture increases the potential for a significant...
Worthington, 56187

Worthington Minnesota 300 11th Street / P.O. Box 639 56187

2014-03-13 20:59:01

WORTHINGTON — Agriculture industry professionals from more than a dozen counties across southern Minnesota connected via video conference Thursday to discuss response plans in the event of an animal disease emergency.

The diversity of Minnesota agriculture increases the potential for a significant animal disease outbreak. The state leads the nation in turkey production, is third in the nation in hogs, sixth in dairy and 10th in cattle and calf production.

Amber Wilson, senior consultant and training program manager for Kansas City-based SES Inc., an environmental and agricultural consulting company, said the diversity here is much broader than in her home state of Nebraska, where the cattle industry reigns supreme. Ag response teams there have one focus, whereas Minnesota has several.

In leading Thursday’s program, Wilson said the goal for counties was to identify potential agriculture response incidents and authorities, raise awareness of threats to Minnesota agriculture, and review plans to deal with foreign animal disease threats as well as responsibilities.

In Nobles County, Emergency Management Director Joyce Jacobs said a basic response plan exists for a livestock disaster, but Thursday’s exercise was to expand upon it and get attendees thinking about possible disaster scenarios.

“Obviously, the ag industry is huge here in Nobles County, so we need to have a county plan in place should we have a disaster in livestock that would impact our agricultural community,” Jacobs said. “Pulling in our partners is important — they will play a major role in helping us respond to the disaster.”

Representatives from Nobles County Environmental Services, Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service were among those at the meeting in Worthington. Jackson County, where the video conference was based, hosted attendees from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and other state agencies.

“A big part of (the workshop) is making sure that we have the resources that are currently available listed with contacts, so we can pull in the appropriate agencies to help us with our response,” Jacobs said.

While livestock emergencies were the focus of Thursday’s discussion, Wilson said food contamination, ag chemical spills and plant pests and diseases are all included under the umbrella of agricultural incidents the Minnesota Department of Agriculture responds to. When it comes to livestock, the state’s Board of Animal Health takes the lead.

“They know they’re going to need help if we’re dealing with a foreign animal disease,” Wilson said. “When we deal with a foreign animal disease, we have to work quickly. They spread fast, and we need to contain it early.

According to the latest data, Minnesota producers have $7 billion in livestock and poultry sales annually, another $11 billion in crop sales and total agricultural sales of $26.6 billion.

“There’s a significant amount of economic impact … to producers in your state,” Wilson said, adding that a disease outbreak could have a long-lasting impact on the state economy.

She mentioned the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in England that lasted nine months. The greatest impact to the country wasn’t to agriculture, but to tourism, with 50 jobs lost per day in the service and business sectors.

Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., Wilson said states had livestock emergency response plans in place. After, there were many more questions and issues raised about food safety and livestock security.

“We looked at things we never thought possible,” she said. “We really started engaging a lot of partners that we hadn’t previously, and bringing in law enforcement to talk about this risk to agriculture.

“Our best defense against a foreign animal disease is to never get it in the first place,” she added.

If it does occur, however, she said the best strategy is a quick response. Developing those response plans was part of Thursday’s exercise.

Julie Buntjer joined the Daily Globe newsroom in December 2003, after working more than nine years for weekly newspapers. A native of Worthington and graduate of Worthington High School, then-Worthington Community College and South Dakota State University, she has a bachelor's degree in agriculture journalism.
At the Daily Globe, Julie covers the agricultural beat, as well as Nobles County government, watersheds, community news and feature stories. In her spare time, she enjoys needlework (cross-stitch and hardanger embroidery), reading, travel, fishing and spending time with family.
Find more of her stories of farm life, family and various other tidbits at www.farmbleat.areavoices.com.